A SAFE online space for students to report bullying is up and running at Kineton High School.
The school has partnered with The Student Voice – an award-winning student reporting tool devised by a former bullying victim.
It enables young people to report issues and identify harmful hotspots within school and the local town.
The child-friendly tech is designed to remove the fear and stigma associated with reporting issues, while giving schools insightful data on the safety of their school and local community.
Assistant headteacher Mike Few said: “The wellbeing of our students has always been a priority and by teaming up with The Student Voice, we’re ensuring that our school community remains safe. This is really well thought out, sophisticated technology which has been designed with young people in mind and we’re delighted to have it as part of our provision here at Kineton.”
The Student Voice offers visual maps of all the contexts young people spend time in, including school, home and the local community parks and bus routes, so they can rank how safe they feel and report any issues in these locations.
The school or college can then offer the most appropriate and effective response, helping to prevent future harm occurring in these spaces.
It was created by Jason Tait and Stephen Willoughby. Having suffered severe bullying at school himself, Stephen left formal education and completed his studies through home-schooling, pursuing a career in computers from a young age.
Stephen added: “The main barrier for young people to report an issue is the fear of their peers or teachers. Providing young people with a safe online space to speak up means the conversation can be started. Working with Kineton is a privilege for us, but more importantly, it is great news for the young people of the town – it means that they have another safe route to support if needed.”
